At the Gate

"Wheelchairs in wild spaces shouldn't be an anomaly some thirty years since the Americans with Disabilities Act, but here I am, in front of another gate, asserting my right to exist in nature. The very fact of me seems to rankle the men I am here to meet. King Estates Open Space Park is a verdant area of native grasses, wildflowers, and spectacular vistas overlooking the San Francisco Bay. 

During the darkest days of the pandemic, sheltered at home and half-crazed with fear, my daily sojourns here replenished and sustained me. But today I am shut out, blocked from the most usable entrance to the park by a poorly designed and inaccessible chain-link fence." 

Yomi Sachiko Wrong, writer, activist, and disability justice dreamer shares more in this short and stirring piece.